The demonetization of high value
currency, which was implemented from the 9th
of November, has had a widespread and telling effect on Lokavidya
livelihoods and members of Lokavidya Samaj. While there has been widespread support for the idea and intent of
demonetization viz the rooting out of hoarded black and white money
and an indirect strike against ‘terror funding’, there have been
many complaints regarding the way it was implemented, the seeming
lack of adequate planning and in anticipating the hardships caused to
citizens due to the non-availability of adequate small currency. While
all this may be so; it is imperative to examine the effects of this
move on Lokavidya livelihoods.
A majority of members of Lokavidya
Samaj are greatly dependent on capital inputs
, as small cash loans, at every stage of their livelihood activities.
Most of these financial inputs come from local money lenders at
usurious rates. Cash flow,
which is equally crucial to continuation of the livelihood activity,
is determined by local market conditions, which often push the
producer into a debt trap. Accumulation
of surplus (in the form of cash -in- hand) , as a result of marketing
their produce/services and after debt servicing and meeting
daily-life needs, is almost non-existent. In short, a majority of
Lokavidya livelihoods are in a precarious position and almost wholly
dependent on cash available on a day-to-day basis.
One large scale effect of demonetization has been the non-availability
of small currency to almost all sections of society. While those
connected with the banking system have been looking to banks to meet
their needs of spendable cash, the plight of a vast number of members
of Lokavidya Samaj has become alarming. Many have no work to do,
because their local lenders and/or paymasters do not have liquid
cash(small currency) . This ‘drying up’ of local sources of cash,
much like the non-availability of water during drought, may soon lead
to the ‘withering away’ of these livelihoods and lives dependent
on them.
While the situation may improve in
the coming days with the availability of fresh stocks of small
currency; the lessons, from this experience, for Lokavidya Samaj are
important to understand. We have been focussing on the negative
impact of the terms-of-trade (pricing of produce and labour) in the
current market situation and demanding more equitable
terms/remuneration based on equality between the different (forms of)
knowledge content underlying production and service, by the Samaj.
However, what has emerged from the current exercise of
demonetization, is that the flow of small and adequate currency at
the local level has had a telling effect on the sustenance of
Lokavidya livelihoods and consequently on the lives of members of the
Samaj. The demand for the Right to a dignified life now gets hinged
on this new factor of cash flow.
He who controls this cash flow wields the sword!
The over-arching spread and reach
of International Finance Capital, which we know has determined the
course of market-driven capitalism and path of development these past
few decades; has now spread its tentacles to Lokavidya livelihoods
and the Samaj. During the past few weeks after demonetization was
implemented, there have been a few reports of how members of
Lokavidya Samaj have been coping with this potentially
life-threatening situation. In one local market, farmers exchanged
their produce(grains, vegetables etc) for cooked food made available
by a local caterer at some mutually agreed -upon exchange value. At
another place transport services were made available in exchange for
goods/services made available by those being transported. There may
be many such instances that have emerged but have not been reported.
However, what is important to note
is that such ‘solutions’ provide two important inputs in the
struggle of Lokavidya Samaj to come to its own. First, it points to a
discovery of a new
mutually beneficial basis for assigning exchange value that is based
on a new concept of equality.
Second, such solutions are outside the ambit of the (financial)
control of the capitalist-market system and therefore inherently
sustainable by the local community of producers and consumers.
We may also take note that the real
intent of the minimum wage scheme under MGNREGA has been to enable
the vast majority of ‘unemployed’ members of the Samaj to
participate in the market system by providing guaranteed minimum
wages for doing the work of coolies(manual
labour). The Jan Dhan Yojana, which requires all such people to
obtain Aadhar cards and open bank accounts, is also aimed at providing
this cash(wage) through a direct cash transfer system. And now with
the crises of cash flow and the banking system’s inability to meet
the requirements of this path of ‘inclusion’ , there is an appeal
to all to switch to a cashless system using bank/credit cards.
It appears imperative that
Lokavidya Samaj come up with ways and means and mutually
agreed upon solutions to protect and sustain its livelihoods and to
meet the onslaught of the capitalist market-system. These are
pointers to the agenda of Lokavidya Jan Andolan in the coming days.
Krishnarajulu
25.11.16
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